Wind power is an appealing and practical solution in some Republican states simply because, in much of the middle of the country, the land is open and vast and the wind blows hard and consistently. While more densely populated coastal areas struggle with where to put a wind farm, Texas, Iowa, and South Dakota do not lack for space or wind. Texas also benefits from having its own power grid, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), while the rest of the country splits two other major grids. ERCOT doesn’t actually cover all of Texas, but it covers enough of it to make it much easier build long distance transmission lines that brings power from remote wind farms to cities and towns that need it than in states on a federally regulated grid.